Electronic components such as electronic displays are commonly installed within flat, hard surfaces of electronic devices, such as computer screens, television sets, smart phones, tablet computers, etc., and in many cases are installed on accessories for the electronic devices, such as removable monitors. Many electronic devices having an electronic display are portable, and have thus become very useful in implementing mobile applications. This fact is particularly true with smart phones.
However, typical portable or mobile devices integrate electronic components that are completely flat and/or rigid in nature. Thus, while these components can be useful, the device in which the components are integrated must typically be held in a hand, or must be stored in a pocket, a purse, a briefcase or other container. Such constraints make the devices less accessible in many situations, such as when a person is carrying other items or undertaking an athletic activity such as running, walking, etc. Moreover, in many cases these traditional electronic devices require two free hands to hold and operate, making these devices cumbersome or difficult to use or to view in situations in which, for example, a person has only one or no free hands or is otherwise occupied.
While flexible displays and other flexible electronic components, such as solar panels, are generally known and are starting to come into more common usage, flexible electronic components have not been widely incorporated into easily portable items such as clothing, wristbands, jewelry, etc. To the extent that flexible electronic components have been placed onto bendable surfaces or substrates, flexible electronic components have generally been integrated in primarily one-sided devices, such as smart watches. That is, typical devices, if anything, include flexible electronic components on only one surface of the device, allowing a user to interact with (e.g., via a display and touchscreen on one surface of the device) only one surface of the device. An underside or other side of the device remains, for the most part, bare and unused.